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Eight Interesting Improvements In GNOME 2.22

01-29-2008, 10:50 AM

Phoronix: Eight Interesting Improvements In GNOME 2.22

Back in November we started sharing some of the exciting features planned for the GNOME 2.22 and 2.24 releases, and now that the first GNOME 2.22.0 Beta release is planned for later this week, we have taken another look at the packages set for inclusion and the changes that have actually been made. While nothing groundbreaking will be introduced in GNOME 2.22, this desktop environment does have some moderate changes worth noting. In this article are eight interesting packages that either have noticeable changes since GNOME 2.20 or are new to GNOME. This list isn't all-inclusive or ordered in any particular fashion, but just eight changes that had caught our attention.

Comment

It's interesting that GVFS will be used, replacing Gnome-VFS in the GNOME applications but that leaves me with a serious concern...

I tend to build my Linux systems from scratch using the LFS/CLFS guidelines with a bit of modifiers, and taking into account many GTK+/GNOME applications (like audacious and so on) may rely on Gnome-VFS...

Will I have to install both of them? or maybe GVFS will provide some kind of compatibility (maybe with headers and structures to 'emulate' of serve as kind of transport for regular Gnome-VFS request for file access) to be able to not install Gnome-VFS?

Julio

Comment

Please gnome developers, make something to generate random playlist from music library in Rhythmbox.
Or better, a button "fill ipod". I have ipod shuffle, and I need to open amarok to do this simple thing. Any further improvement about playlists management is veery welcome!

Comment

I'm looking forward to many of the new features, especially those in Rhythmbox, Evince and this new Cheese one... All in all it looks like a very interesting release. I already can't wait for Gnome 2.24

-- Video to sell | Get it in your computer | Contribute - build a better world

I am sorry to see that for next version Gnome will not systemwide use vector graphics like KDE4. In this way, Gnome starts looking like something old from the 90-s, since vista/osx/KDE now has full support for it. Switching applications under Ubuntu can sometimes look like shit still. Many cool things are done under OSX since they use PDF systemwide, is almost impossible under Gnome.

Second: marketing (the last point was one too actually)
KDE today says "Be free", witch from a marketing point is wonderful since it delivers the Freedom message. The Gnome equation on their frontpage, "computer + gnome = love/heart"? is a big Disaster from a marketing point of view. If we could be half as good at selling as M$/Apple, we could go so much further. Just copy.

Third: Get people into the society of Gnome
Gnome could also learn from Ubuntu. I have tried to see how I can help, and I just cant find any forum or information of a list of things to do. Its way to difficult to help out today. My suggestion is to do this of Gnome.org frontpage:

1. Deliver the political message in a short message (someway to improve the world...).
2. Divide the frontpage of gnome.org into three parts: "Want to contribute: 1. join the forum, 2. List of things to do to next version (separated into logical areas), 3. Join your local development group, 4 Learn how to program (video course).
This would bring thousands of new developers into the platform - but you have to tell them to do so and lower the barrier.

And: sell sell sell
The third part is to sell sell sell: show videos from youtube how users today use Gnome and put them on the Frontpage. Thats how I switch people to Ubuntu, I show them things they can not resist. And then I help them switch.

Please do this, and the world will follow.

I repeat. Vector graphics.

The Front page into three parts, like it looks today but in three:

1. Video to sell | 2. Get it in your computer | 3. Contribute - build a better world

Comment

I still think the main motivation to include WebKit is to cut Epiphany's dependence on Firefox, or at the very least some Mozilla libs to be also installed.

Mozilla did some major changes in the Gecko 1.9 API. Mozilla is going to break APIs in the Gecko 2.0 work. From what I have read part of the issue Epiphany's Devs had is that two major API changes in a relatively short period of time.

Work was done in Gecko 1.8/1.9 that would have allowed Epiphany use XULrunner a common Gecko lib, if they are not already.